Saturday, June 27, 2015

Between May 26-29, 2015,
the Mangrove Action Project (MAP)-Asia hosted 17 students from the Geography
Department at York University, Toronto, Canada. The field course abroad which
took place in Chiang Mai and Krabi provinces was led by ProfessorPeter Vandergeest, who happens to be one of
MAP’s advisors, and Dr. Tubtim Tubtim, who was the
local course coordinator. The objective of the visit was to learn from
communities on Klang Island, Krabi, Thailand about community-based
environmental conservation and development. Jim Enright, MAP-Asia coordinator presented of
the Ecosystems Protecting Infrastructure and Communities (EPIC)
project which MAP has been implementing the Community-based Ecological Mangrove
Restoration (CBEMR) concept under this project. EPIC investigates the role that healthy
ecosystems play in reducing disaster risk and supporting community-based
adaptation to climate change.The goal
is to find and promote nature-based solutions rather than solely relying on
hard infrastructure which is not only expensive but provides no goods unlike
mangroves. The students were also taken to visit one of the CBEMR demonstration
sites at Ban Klong Kham, Krang Island, Krabi so they see the demonstration site
first-hand.

Students were taken on a boat tour of the mangroves while a
local community mangrove conservation expert, Bang Non, explained the mangrove
history stating at the end of the charcoal concession period the local mangrove
landscape appeared red rather than green like today, as so much vegetation had
been removed the red soils were exposed.He also the mangrove importance for local livelihoods in Krabi River
Estuary, which is now a RAMSAR site.

One of the course exercises involved the students
researching topics in small groups by going out and finding local resource
people to interview through a translator.The students split into 4 groups and interviewed a local government
authorities and community members from 3 villages on the island. The different
topics they selected to study were 1). mangrove and shrimp aquaculture; impact
on natural resources and livelihoods, 2) tourism development; benefits and
impacts to local communities, 3) erosion; the causes and projects/activities
dealing with problems and 4) natural disaster preparedness.

The field course was a great opportunity for MAP to
disseminate the CBEMR methodology to students from different region who most
experienced mangroves for the first time!

York University students visiting the lush mangroves
of the Krabi River Estuary.

On June 9th and 10th, 2015 Jaruwan Enright (Ning) joined the IUCN-Thailand organized meeting in Bangkok as a partner of the Ecosystems Protecting Infrastructure and Communities (EPIC) project in preparation for the IUCN-Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) meeting on June 11th also in Bangkok. Other IUCN-Thailand partner NGOs who were also implementing projects on the ground gathered to discuss and debate issues concerning Thailand’s new Coastal Resources Management Act, which will come into force at the end of 2015.
The new Act presents new opportunities for community engagement but there are concerns that if not properly implemented there could be significant negative impacts.

Under the new law, DMCR can designate Mangrove Conservation Areas and
Marine and Coastal Resources as protected areas in order to save important coastal and marine resources. The new law encourages the
participation of communities and local governments in conservation by
forming multi-stakeholder platforms that can propose management plans
for the marine and coastal resources.
Trat Province in the Eastern Gulf of Thailand will serve as one of
the demonstration sites for the implementation of the new law. IUCN will
work with DMCR on conducting field research, capacity building and
multi-stakeholder dialogues to set up marine and coastal resource protected areas and management plans.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Hungry crabs snacking on mangrove seeds may foil reforestation
PANAMA - Crabs love mangrove swamps. But the mangroves may not love them back. Crabs' voracious appetite for mangrove seeds can be a prime reason why efforts to replant lost mangroves often fail. So keeping crabs out could sometimes help their recovery, says Emily Dangremond of the University of California in Berkeley. To see how much mangrove the crabs can munch through, she used nylon mesh enclosures to keep crabs away from mangrove seeds in areas of swamp regrowth on the Pacific and Caribbean coasts of Panama in Central America. Comparing these areas with similar regions where crabs were free to roam, she found that their consumption varied depending on the type of mangroves around, and they ate more in saltier waters. In the worst cases, they munched up to 90 per cent of the seeds of the rare neotropical mangrove tree, Pelliciera rhizophorae. READ MORE

AFRICA

Two million mangrove trees planted in Abu Dhabi
ABU DHABI - Abu Dhabi has planted two million mangrove trees as part of efforts to protect an essential part of the coastal ecosystem. The planting drive is a pre-emptive move by the agency to protect mangroves from the effects from development and expansion projects in the emirate. Mangrove trees provide a safe habitat for many species of birds and fish, supporting biodiversity and helping to replenish fish resources. Dr Sheikha Salem Al Dhaheri, executive director of the sector of land and marine biodiversity, said the project’s main objective was to increase the mangrove canopy along Abu Dhabi’s coast. After careful consideration, the coastal line between the Abu Dhabi port and Thamiriya in the western region was chosen as the area for planting. “Mangrove trees, along with the coastal ecosystem, are the key for preserving the sustainability of our emirate and for ensuring a better and more sustainable future,” she said. VIEW SOURCE

ASIA

Hope for Indonesia's valuable but threatened mangroves
INDONESIA – Indonesia is home to the largest tracts of mangrove forests on earth – but they are disappearing at a rate of up to 2% a year, faster than anywhere else in the world. A study by Conservation International (CI) in West Papua province is trying to determine the potential value of these mangroves, both for Indonesia - the world’s third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases – and for the Papuan communities that live among them. Threatened mangroves and coastal marine ecosystems in general get far less attention than tropical rainforests in climate negotiations, despite the many useful services they provide. Mangroves are highly efficient carbon sinks, absorbing up to five times as much carbon dioxide as tropical forests. They are also important ecosystems, providing spawning grounds and habitat for hundreds of species, many of them commercially important. They are natural barriers to tropical storm surges and even contain chemicals effective in fighting cancer. READ MORE

Officials in Karaikal keen on replicating mangrove success
INDIA - The Agriculture Department has planned to increase the mangrove cover in various regions of Karaikal, based on the success of the growth of species on the sea-shore during the post-Tsunami period. The department has taken up a study on the feasibility of increasing the mangrove forest cover in the marshy lands in Karaikal. “We have selected Mullaiyar and the bird sanctuary at Vizhudhiyur where the prospects for raising mangrove is conducive,” an official source told The Hindu on Monday. The success of the mangrove growth on the marshy lands in the coastal Karaijkal had encouraged the Agriculture Department to explore the possibility of covering more area. The department has developed a bio-wall for a distance of 7.5 km between Vanjur and Mandaputhur villages in the coastal stretch. “The land has become a natural barrier for controlling the velocity of winds during cyclone. We developed four species — and the casuarinas had survived in the bio-wall.” READ MORE

From Residents to Rangers: Local Communities Take Lead on Mangrove Conservation
SRI LANKA - Weekends and public holidays are deadly for one of Sri Lanka’s most delicate ecosystems – that is when the island’s 8,815 hectares of mangroves come under threat. With public officials, forest rangers and NGO workers on holiday, no one is around to enforce conservation laws designed to protect these endangered zones. Except the locals, that is. Residents of the Kalpitiya Peninsula in the northwest Puttalam District are no strangers to the wanton destruction of the area’s natural bounty. Kalpitiya is home to the largest mangrove block in Sri Lanka, the Puttalam Lagoon, as well as smaller mangrove systems on the shores of the Chilaw Lagoon, 150 km north of the capital, Colombo. For centuries these complex wetlands have protected fisher communities against storms and sea-surges, while the forests’ underwater root system has nurtured nurseries and feeding grounds for scores of aquatic species. Perhaps more important, in a country still living with the ghosts of the 2004 Asian Tsunami, mangroves have been found to be a coastline’s best defense against tidal waves and tsunamis. READ MORE

A unique project to conserve mangroves in the city
INDIA - Conserving the mangrove habitat in your neighborhood will soon become all the more a productive affair. Recently, the Forest Department launched a unique project to conserve the mangrove vegetation along the coastline of the Ernakulam district with the help of local communities. It envisages offering incentives and training to people engaged in conservation and replanting of mangroves so as to create public awareness on the real importance of the mangroves, which could prevent invasions from the sea, retain water and prevent soil erosion, among other things. The programme, being implemented with CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) support from the Petronet LNG Limited, will take off to a start with the planting of mangrove seedlings on the banks of a major canal that flows through the Njarakkal grama panchayath in Vypeen. As part of it, the department is also conducting a survey with the help of local bodies to identify the mangrove ecosystems as well as the locations for replanting mangrove saplings. READ MORE

MAP-Asia hosts field school students from York University, Canada
THAILAND - Between May 26-29, 2015, the Mangrove Action Project (MAP)-Asia hosted 17 students from the Geography Department at York University, Toronto, Canada. The field course abroad which took place in Chiang Mai and Krabi provinces was led by Professor Peter Vandergeest, who happens to be one of MAP’s advisors, and Dr. Tubtim Tubtim, who was the local course coordinator. The objective of the visit was to learn from communities on Klang Island, Krabi, Thailand about community-based environmental conservation and development. Jim Enright, MAP-Asia coordinator presented of the Ecosystems Protecting Infrastructure and Communities (EPIC) project which MAP has been implementing the Community-based Ecological Mangrove Restoration (CBEMR) concept under this project. EPIC investigates the role that healthy ecosystems play in reducing disaster risk and supporting community-based adaptation to climate change. The goal is to find and promote nature-based solutions rather than solely relying on hard infrastructure which is not only expensive but provides no goods unlike mangroves. The students were also taken to visit one of the CBEMR demonstration sites at Ban Klong Kham, Krang Island, Krabi so they see the demonstration site first-hand. READ MORE

Women to power Sri Lanka's mangrove conservation plan
SRI LANKA - Sri Lanka's new mangrove protection scheme, the world's first country-wide initiative, is relying on women like Michel Priyadarshani, head of a fisherwomen's group in eastern Ambantotam village. Priyadarshani and her colleagues did not understand the importance of mangroves for the ecosystem, including the fish population, until they benefited from a program offering microcredit in return for looking after the coastal forests. “Now we know - and from us, our husbands and our community also have become aware,” Priyadarshani said. Since 1997, Sudeesa, a national organization that works to protect coastal ecosystems, has given women living near mangrove forests financial assistance - mainly loans of $50 to $2,000 each - incentivizing them to care for the delicate trees. READ MORE

Now, mangrove forests turn into waste dumping yards
INDIA - Pazhayangadi village, nestled amidst wetlands and river, boasts of mangrove varieties as well as many mangrove crusaders. However, the efforts to conserve the ecosystem have run into rough weather as the mangroves are turning into waste dumping yards. "Waste in large quantity from meat shops and slaughterhouses are disposed near mangroves. We cannot fight those who do this as they are powerful enough to take on us. The panchayat authorities are also indifferent to this issue," said Kallen Pokkudan, who has devoted his whole life for mangrove cultivation and conservation. As there is no proper waste management system in place, people turn to rivers and mangrove forests. Stringent measures should be taken to handle this, failing which the ecosystem would turn into a breeding grounds of communicable diseases, warned Parayil Rajan, another mangrove crusader. READ MORE

MAP-Asia staff joins meeting on new Coastal Resources Management Act
THAILAND - On 9-10 June, 2015 Jaruwan Enright (Ning) joined the IUCN-Thailand organized meeting in Bangkok, as a partner of the Ecosystems Protecting Infrastructure and Communities (EPIC) project in preparation for the IUCN-Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) meeting on the June 11th in Bangkok. Other IUCN-Thailand partner NGOs who were also implementing projects on the ground gathered to discuss and debate issues concerning hailand’s new Coastal Resources Management Act, which will come into force by the end of 2015.
The new Act presents new opportunities for community engagement but there are concerns if not properly implemented there could be significant negative impacts. READ MOREAMERICAS

Scientists find surprising climate change refuge for reef-building corals: beneath mangroves
USA - Coral reefs are the gardens of the ocean. Covering just a tiny fraction of the vast sea floor, they are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. However, global warming and ocean acidification increasingly threaten them. Now scientists have discovered that corals could potentially survive global warming by numbering among the Earth’s first climate change refugees. They could flee warming oceans to find a new home in the shade beneath coastal mangroves, says a recent study published in the journal Biogeosciences. "Coral reefs are essentially spawning and nursery grounds for thousands of marine animals, helping sustain many of the world’s fisheries, and are home to more than 4,000 species of fish." Dr. Michael Webster, executive director of the Coral Reef Alliance said. Coral reefs, such as this one in Fiji’s Namena Marine Reserve, support about a quarter of all known marine species. With sea temperatures rising, and increasing CO2 levels causing acidification of oceanic waters, coral bleaching events are regularly leaving large sums of dead coral in their wake. An estimated 90 percent of the world’s reefs will be at risk by 2030, rising to 100 percent by 2050, if current worst-case forecasts play out. READ MORE

Expert Q&A: Roy “Robin” Lewis
Roy R. “Robin” Lewis III has been studying or restoring coastal habitats for nearly half a century. A wetlands ecologist and president of Lewis Environmental Services, Inc., he specializes in the ecology, management, restoration and creation of fresh and saltwater marshes, mangrove forests, forested freshwater wetlands, and seagrass meadows. Robin has applied his expertise to hundreds of projects throughout the world, and to more than 100 papers on the subject of wetland restoration. He is the president of Coastal Resource Group, Inc., a non-profit educational and scientific organization and the force behind the resource-filled web sites www.mangroverestoration.com and www.seagrassrestorationnow.com. Robin is so passionate about the need to pass the torch to the next generation of coastal wetland restoration professionals, he has voluntarily taught courses on the subject for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Ohio State University, University of Wisconsin and Louisiana State University. He has also taught wetland restoration in twenty-two foreign countries including Guyana, Jamaica, Bonaire, Nigeria, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. He has served on the boards of the Society of Wetland Scientists, Association of State Wetland Managers, Mangrove Action Project, WildLaw, Inc., and the Putnam County Environmental Council. Last year, he was appointed to the IUCN’s Species Survival Commission Mangrove Specialist Group. READ THE INTERVIEW

OCEANA

Brisbane City Council considering new mangrove boardwalk
AUSTRALIA - Three years after it demolished a CBD mangrove boardwalk, Brisbane City Council is considering building a new one. The council's new city botanic gardens conservation and land management plan was passed in the council chamber. One of its proposals was to construct a new boardwalk that would provide "a visitor experience that reveals a visitor experience that reveals important aspects of Queensland's unique flora". "Well I couldn't agree more," Labor opposition leader Milton Dick said.The Liberal National Party council demolished the old wooden boardwalk in 2013 at a cost of $128,980. Cr Dick was a vocal critic of the boardwalk's demolition and sought federal intervention to repair it through that government's work for the dole scheme. "They're ripping up a boardwalk one day then bringing in a report here to actually deliver a new boardwalk," he said at City Hall. "So I simply say to the LNP – work out what you're doing. Work out what the actual strategy is rather than wasting ratepayers' money." READ MOE

LAST WORD(S)

What? No Last Word? We welcome your comments and news stories, opinions and ideas.

Please cut and paste these news alerts/ action alerts on to your own lists and contacts. Help us spread the word and further generate letters of concern, as this can make a big difference in helping to halt a wrongdoing or encourage correct action.

ACTION ALERTS WANTED: MAP News is looking for links to calls to actions/petitions and letter writing campaigns on mangrove issues, tropical coastal communities and other related topics. Not all submissions can be selected, but we look forward to hearing about your work and want to let our readers' voice be heard!
Email submissions to news@mangroveactionproject.org

MAP’s e-Cards offer you a unique way to spread the word about MAP’s good works, while sharing beautiful photographs of the mangroves

CALLING FOR MANGROVE ART SUBMISSIONS!

A fun and exciting Art Contest for children 6 to 16 years old. We invite all primary school children from tropical and sub-tropical nations, and whose schools are located near mangroves, to create art telling us “why mangroves are important to my community and me?”. Selected winners will be published in a 2016 calendar to be distributed internationally to raise awareness of mangrove forest ecology. READ MORE

Donate to MAP via Paypal
Giving could never be easier

It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.

Note to Our Readers:We strive to keep active links in our newsletter. However, due to circumstances beyond our control, occasionally links to stories may become broken. If you find a link to a story is not functioning, please cut and paste the headline into your browser search bar. In most cases you should be able to locate the original story.HelpMangrove Action Projectthrough your recycled E-Waste. List of Accepted E-waste Items:

Thursday, June 11, 2015

On Friday the 5th of June was World Environment Day, and to celebrate MAP, with the help of our sponsors Global Nature Fund (GNF), Earth Synchronicity and Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation (BMZ), participated in a large half-day environmental event for grade 7-9 students in Krabi town along with other groups such as RAKS Thai and government agencies. The event was hosted by the Krabi Provincial Administrative Organization and was attended by over 2000 students. Presented in MAP’s booth were large banners depicting mangrove species, benefits of mangroves, food webs and knowledge pertaining to restoration and conservation. To raise awareness amongst the students on what MAP does for the community and environment staff conducted fun and educational, question and answer games complete with prizes.

Eager students signing up for MAPs interactive Q&A game.

Through fun and interactive educational games khun Bobby managed to reach a large audience of students who were excited to learn about mangrove conservation and restoration.

With the help of MAP staff member, khun Chay, students were able to find the answers to questions by using the banners, their own personal experiences and analytical skills.

A student receiving a prize for the Q&A game, prizes included items such as pencils, colored pencils, crayons, coloring books, MAP t-shirts and candy.

MAP Staff Member, Ning, shows Nai Nang Collective’s Honey Products sold by community members at MAP’s booth. The honey is sustainably collected, all natural and helps support mangrove conservation and villager livelihoods in Nai Nang Village.The bee keeping group, Nai Nang Honey Collective, gathers its honey from one of MAPS Community Based Ecological Mangrove Restoration (CBEMR) sites which is sponsored by the Global Nature Fund (GNF).

Students proudly display some of the logos of MAP donors

Educational events such as these provide an excellent opportunity for students to get out of the class room and experience environmental conservation firsthand from organizations on the front lines. Through our fun and interactive game MAP was able to inspire students to participate and learn. MAPs dedicated staff are sure to have left a lasting impression on the students participating that day. The first step to action is education, and reaching impressionable minds at a young age is paramount in constructing a relationship between future influential community members and environmental conservation.

Mangrove Action Project CBEMR wins National Energy Globe Award
MYANMAR - Over 170 countries sent a total of over 1500 entries. Experts from the Energy Globe evaluation committee have evaluated and selected the national winners. Mangrove Action Project’s Community-based Ecological Mangrove Restoration was chosen as best project of Myanmar and was honored with the National Energy Globe Award Myanmar on June 5th. The activities of Energy Globe attract worldwide media attention - international TV stations report each year with approximately 1,000 hours of broadcasting time. The aim of the Energy Globe is to raise global attention on sustainable, everywhere applicable environmental solutions and to motivate people to also become active in this area. READ MORE

AFRICA

World's poor most affected by biodiversity and ecosystem loss
SOUTH AFRICA - An increasing population and global trade have put unsustainable pressure on renewable natural resources, such as bush meat, fuel wood or arable land, which is increasing long-term poverty and leads to biodiversity loss. On the other hand, illegal wildlife trade of endangered species has a major impact on biodiversity, but also represents a real threat to national security and economic development for many African countries. Unprecedented poaching levels and sophisticated smuggling capabilities are indicative of organised criminal activity. Over €21bn of worldwide environmental crime is attributed to illegal wildlife trade, of which ivory is an important component. It is believed that this money is partly financing illegal groups, such as the Lord's Resistance Army, Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab, playing a part in destabilising the security of large regions. READ MORE

ASIA

MAP celebrates World Environment Day Thailand with Student Event
THAILAND - On Friday the 5th of June was World Environment Day, and to celebrate MAP, with the help of our sponsors Global Nature Fund (GNF), Earth Synchronicity and Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation (BMZ), participated in a large half-day environmental event for grade 7-9 students in Krabi town along with other groups such as RAKS Thai and government agencies. The event was hosted by the Krabi Provincial Administrative Organization and was attended by over 2000 students. Presented in MAP’s booth were large banners depicting mangrove species, benefits of mangroves, food webs and knowledge pertaining to restoration and conservation. To raise awareness amongst the students on what MAP does for the community and environment staff conducted fun and educational, question and answer games complete with prizes. READ MORE

ANNUAL REPORT Community Based Sea Turtle Conservation in Odisha
INDIA - This project is a community involvement initiative for conservation of olive ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacia) in non-protected breeding beaches of Odisha state, India. Several threats were identified during a rapid threat assessment survey including, nest predation by feral dogs, unseasonal rains and high tides, beach pollution etc. A plan of action was proposed to minimize the un-natural deaths of hatchlings. Main focus of this project is to increase survival chances of the hatchlings by active nest protection (eggs and hatchlings), hatchery management, assisting in hatching process, releasing disoriented hatchlings in to the ocean, and educating and sensitizing local communities and tourists. Our annual report can be viewed here. READ MORE

AMERICAS

Group petitions Ramsar to de-list artificial wetlands
GUATEMALA – Citing the widespread destruction of coastal forests, wetlands, seagrass and coral habitats, Red Manglar has officially petitioned Ramsar to de-classify the listing of shrimp farms and salt mines as “constructed wetlands”. Despite the severe impacts generated by industrial shrimp farming for both ecosystems and human populations, RAMSAR still considers this predatory industry as "Constructed Wetland", sharing this classification with industrial salt mines, hydroelectric dams and mining pools. “Placing the shrimp, salt mines and other industrial activities as "Constructed Wetlands" is another argument used by these industries with high social and environmental impact to greenwash their activities,” the letter states. READ MORE

Bringing devastated mangroves back to life
USA - Florida-based wetland scientist Roy Lewis has been trying to coax mangroves back to life for decades. Back in the early 90s, the situation was so dire that the chances of restoring coastlines devastated by shrimp aquaculture seemed slim. But ensuing years have seen an explosion of replanting projects - often funded by the shrimp industry itself. Many, however, promise more than they deliver. "I did the same kind of experiments a lot of people have done," says Lewis, who developed the Ecological Mangrove Restoration (EMR) method now being used across Southeast Asia. "I began over 40 years ago: sticking mangrove seeds in the ground and watching them die. It was obvious there had to be a better approach." "Mangrove" is a blanket term for trees and bushes from around 15 distinct plant families indigenous to tropical regions across the globe. Their common characteristic is that they have adapted to thrive, semi-submerged, in tidal saltwater - where they provide a unique and nurturing habitat for growing fish, marine invertebrates and roosting birds. READ MORE

Mangrove campaigners battle to save the 'roots of the sea'
USA - When I first stumbled upon mangrove forests as a journalist in 1992, visiting several fishing communities along the Andaman Sea in southern Thailand, I noticed a common thread of problems faced by the fisherfolk: outside investors were ruining their lands and livelihoods by cutting mangroves to make way for shrimp farms, devastating their local fishery and agriculture. The rapidly expanding shrimp-aquaculture industry, fueled by voracious consumer demand in the US, Japan, and Europe, poses one of the gravest threats to remaining mangrove forests and the wildlife and communities they support. Millions of hectares of coastal wetlands, including mangroves, have been cleared to make room for shrimp ponds excavated a meter deep into the wetland substrate then filled with briny water and shrimp. The Philippines and Thailand have lost over 65% of their mangroves, while Indonesia, Cambodia, India and Bangladesh are close behind. One village chief in Thailand told me that his father had been murdered by the shrimp mafia because he’d opposed their cutting of mangroves. He spoke with deep emotion: “If there are no mangrove forests, then the sea will have no meaning. It is like having a tree with no roots, for the mangroves are the roots of the sea." READ MORE

87% of wetlands have disappeared in three centuries
PANAMA – In the last three centuries, 87% of wetlands worldwide have been degraded, said Wetlands International, before the international conference in Uruguay wetlands and the commemoration of World Environment Day June 2.
The overall loss of wetlands was given prior to the 12th Conference of the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar COP12, held from 1 to 9 June in Punta del Este, Uruguay. For Wetlands International, wetlands and the ecosystem services they provide are considered critical to reducing disaster risk and rapid climate change, and to build resilience to extreme weather events. 90% of disasters are caused by water-related hazards such as floods and droughts, said the NGO. LEA MAS EN ESPANOL

EUROPE

177 countries present sustainable solutions
AUSTRIA - Our planet is facing a crucial test today. All over the world we can see the negative impacts of our environment’s pollution and destruction to the detriment of millions of people, and with dire consequences for all of our futures.
We have to make a change – not by talking but by acting. For this we need the passion, commitment, courage and cooperation with all parts of our society. 177 people in this world are showing how this change can happen. Energy Globe presents these committed people and their actions on 5th June, World Environment Day to tell the world that there are many creative people out there with great projects providing answers to many of our problems. Click through 177 outstanding solutions on www.energyglobe.info and learn more about great people and their great actions which were awarded with the national Energy Globe Award. READ MORE

As mangroves disappear at 'an alarming rate,' conservationists urge more protection
Even though about 90 percent of the world’s mangroves are found in developing countries, they are not currently considered part of the REDD+ strategies at UN talks, according to the UNEP report. REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) incentivizes reduced deforestation and greenhouse gases emissions. Steiner says not including mangroves in the REDD+ conservation strategy is a huge missed opportunity in addressing climate change and compensating developing countries that are likely to suffer some of the direst impacts of a climate crisis. A Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper argues that mangroves are under-appreciated assets in efforts to slow climate change. Researchers from Resources for the Future and the University of California at Davis estimated the cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by preserving mangrove forests, which globally store 6.5 billion tons of carbon in their biomass and soils. READ MORE

LAST WORD(S)

Dear Mr. Quarto

You have submitted your project “Community-based Ecological Mangrove Restoration (CBEMR)“ for the Energy Globe Award, today’s largest platform for sustainability. Over 170 countries sent a total of over 1500 entries.

We are delighted to inform you that your submission was chosen as best project of Myanmar and will be honored with the National Energy Globe Award Myanmar!

Congratulation on this outstanding achievement!

The projects of all National Energy Globe Winners including yours will be presented on 5 June, the UN’s World Environment Day to a global public on www.energyglobe.info. The main objective of this action under the patronage of UNESCO and in cooperation with UNEP, is to point out that there are a lot of creative people on our world - like you – having implemented great projects with solutions for every problem.

Your submission is automatically evaluated on the international level too and we will contact you in case that you are nominated for the Energy Globe World Award in winter.

Please cut and paste these news alerts/ action alerts on to your own lists and contacts. Help us spread the word and further generate letters of concern, as this can make a big difference in helping to halt a wrongdoing or encourage correct action.

ACTION ALERTS WANTED: MAP News is looking for links to calls to actions/petitions and letter writing campaigns on mangrove issues, tropical coastal communities and other related topics. Not all submissions can be selected, but we look forward to hearing about your work and want to let our readers' voice be heard!
Email submissions to news@mangroveactionproject.org

MAP’s e-Cards offer you a unique way to spread the word about MAP’s good works, while sharing beautiful photographs of the mangroves

CALLING FOR MANGROVE ART SUBMISSIONS!

A fun and exciting Art Contest for children 6 to 16 years old. We invite all primary school children from tropical and sub-tropical nations, and whose schools are located near mangroves, to create art telling us “why mangroves are important to my community and me?”. Selected winners will be published in a 2016 calendar to be distributed internationally to raise awareness of mangrove forest ecology. READ MORE

Donate to MAP via Paypal
Giving could never be easier

It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.

Note to Our Readers:We strive to keep active links in our newsletter. However, due to circumstances beyond our control, occasionally links to stories may become broken. If you find a link to a story is not functioning, please cut and paste the headline into your browser search bar. In most cases you should be able to locate the original story.HelpMangrove Action Projectthrough your recycled E-Waste. List of Accepted E-waste Items: